Helpful Campaign Hints 101

[LittleClarkie]

Sort of lightweight as topics go, but I thought I'd share with you a tactic that one of my local Dem leaders come up with.

You know those off-year elections, the ones where the turnout is usually pretty darn low? We're in the middle of one here, for County Executive. We have one Republican and one non-partisan with union support running.

So the local leader has me and a few other people writing down the addresses when we find large yard signs for the non-partisan.

Considering how Red our county is, the thinking is that if these folks were willing to shell out $100 for a moderate (even if we don't know what party he is), then perhaps in the next big election, these folks will also be willing to have a large Democrat yard sign in their yard.

The idea is to have a list where we can place large signs quickly.

Seemed like a good use for those smaller local elections.

Meanwhile, our local party is trying to get once-a-month breakfast meeting going in several of our communities (remembering this is Sensenbrenner's district). We want to get them started now so that when the 2006 and 2008 elections come around, we will be established and ready to bounce ideas off each other and share information.

Just a couple of grassroots-type ideas I thought I'd pass on to y'all.

[Savannah Progressive]

1. Take it a step further

Writing down addressess of my neighbors who aren't supporting the Republican, kind of like identifying those who aren't driving a Foreign Car for pro-union identification.

The problem there is this. We don't know too much about them, for example, are they opposed to the Repugnik because he isn't Radical enough? Remember the Fundies have their problems too. For example, Baptists feel that the Catholics, Episcopalians, and anyone who doesn't worship exactly as they do, is going straight to Hell.

It could well be that your local Repugnik candidate isn't a "proper Cristian" and they aren't supporting him because they think he is worshiping a false god or some such wierd thing. Heck, he might even be a Liberal Repugnik. These Right Wing loons are never short of reasons not to like or approve of someone. Anything can set them off, perhaps the candidate once said something nice about a supporter of the Pro-Choice movement. That alone would turn the Holier than Thou's against a candidate.

There just isnt' enough information about the candidates to make an informed judgement is what I am saying. However just because they don't support the Repugnik, doesn't mean they automatically support the Democrat or the Progressive.

[LittleClarkie]

2. For one thing, it's a place to start, someone to ask

and for another thing, you'd have to see the two candidates here.

One of them is a TABOR nut who is endorsed by our local Rush wanna be, our local crybaby Congressman from hell (Sensenbrenner) and the guy who ran the Bush campaign here in Wisconsin, the same guy who tried to shortchange our Dem districts on ballots.

The other guy, an avowed non-partisan, has union support, is for keeping taxes reasonable but is NOT for TABOR, and overall appears more moderate.

If they wanted the freeper, they'd have his name up. They didn't want the freeper, so they shelled out $100 for the other guy's big yard sign.

If you spend a goodly amount of money like that, you must know the candidates and which one you favor

But like I said, mostly it's a place to start, esp. for those Party memebers who, like the guy I had breakfast with, spend time during campaigns looking for places to put these big signs.

You never know until you ask.

I did similar things during the Kerry campaign. You see someone with a Feingold sign, and you figure they'd take a Kerry one if only they knew where to get it. So I'd carry several in my car.